Clothes drier



T. R. SMITH CLOTHES DRIER Nov. 1, 1960 Filed April 8, 1957 [lh Vx 5f 5Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. l, 1960 T. R. SMITH 2,958,139

CLOTHES DRIER Filed April 8, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 1, 1960 T. R.SMITH 2,958,139

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T. R. SMITH CLOTHES DRIER Nov. 1, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 8,195'? CLOTHES DRIER iowa, assignor to The Maytag Company, Newton, Iowa,ware Filed Apr. 8, 1957, Ser. No. 651,294 6 Claims. (Cl. Srl-133) Thisinvention relates to a tumbler construction for clothes driers. Itspecifically relates to a unique means for heating air prior to itsentry into the clothes tumbler to evaporate moisture from moist fabricsretained within that tumbler. In its use, this invention is particularlyadaptable to that type of clothes drier which eliminates the use of astationary imperforate casing encompassing the clothes tumbler. Thisinvention is specifically adaptable for use with that type clothes drierdisclosed and claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 651,293,filed of even date herewith and assigned to the assignee of the instantinvention.

Brieliy, the invention of my copending application embodies a revolubledrum drive shaft jour-nailed in a stationary casting of hollowconstruction to provide an air exhaust opening communicating with theinterior of the clothes tumbler and concentrically located with respectto the drum drive shaft. A suitable supporting frame supports thestationary casting which formsthe solle sup port for the drum driveshaft connected at one end to and supporting the weight of the clothesdrum and its contents.

By journalling a suction fan on the opposite end of the drive shaft toexpel air withdrawn from the interior of the drum through the hollowstationary casting, a ow of air can be produced through an air inlet inone of the drum walls which produces an eiiicient drying operation atlow temperatures without necessitating the use of an outer stationaryimperforate casing encompassing the clothes drum.

The instant invention relates to the speciiic means for heating the airprior to its being sucked into the air inlet of the clothes drum in aclothes drier of the type disclosed in my copending application for asimilar construction to which this invention is applicable.

In essence, my invention consists of the provision of a perforate areain `a circular pattern around one of the end walls of the clothes drumor tumbler. By attaching an imperforate shroud member of generallycircular conguration to the clothes drum, an annular recess is formedbetween the drum wall containing the air inlet openings and the shroudto house a stationary heating unit or at least coni-ine the heat givenoff by a stationary heating unit located adjacent this annular recess.Air ilow past this stationary heating unit and into the drum through theperforate end wall and out f the drum through a centrally located airexhaust opening in the rear drum wall is produced by a suction fancommunicating with the latter opening.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partially broken away, showing aclothes drier embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is ya rear elevational view, partially broken away, taken online 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1 showing the location ofa heating element with respect to the air inlet openings into theclothes drier shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1showing the entrance to the air exhaust passageway;

essais Figure 5 is a side elevational view, partially broken away,showing a clothes drier embodying a modication of my invention;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary side elevational View showing a clothes drierembodying a second modification of my invention;

Figure 7 is a view taken on line 7--7 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing a clothes drierembodying a third modication of my invention;

Figure 9 is a view taken on line 9--9 of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a fragmentary side elevational View showing a clothes drierembodying a fourth modification of my invention; and,

Figure 1l is a view taken on line 11-11 of Figure 10.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings for a more completedescription of my invention, Figure 1 shows base frame 10 connected tothe two upstanding channel support members 11 which are connected attheir upper ends on opposite sides of the hollow blower housing casting12. Also connected to the base frame 10 is a cabinet 14 which enclosesthe entire clothes drier forming the subject of my invention.

Casting 12 includes a tubular portion 16 and, in this illustrativeembodiment, three internal radially directed longitudinal webs 17 whichconverge toward each other to provide a bearing 18 and an air exhaustpasageway of three segmental parts located between the tubular portion16 and the bearing 18, Since the supporting webs 17 are longitudinallycontinuous for support purposes only, the three-part passageway 21 canbe for illustrative purposes termed a singular passageway concentric tothe bearing 18.

Mounted within bearing 18 is the revoluble drum drive shaft 23 whichprojects from both ends of the blower housing casting 12. Drum driveshaft 23 carries axed at its rear end a large pulley 25 which is drivenby motor 26 through the belt 24, integral pulleys 28 and Z9, and thebelt 31 to reduce the speed of the drum drive shaft 23 to the desiredtumbling speed of approximately 50 r.p.m.

The opposite or forward end of the drum drive shaft 23 is rigidlyfastened to the drum spider member 33 to form va unitary connection withshaft 23. Drum spider member 33 is provided with a hub portion 34connected to the four radiating spokes 35 which are connected in turn tothe rim 36. A heat resistant sealing member 38 encircles the frontperiphery of blower housing 12 to which it is connected and contacts therear wall 39 of drum 4b adjacent the periphery of a centrally locatedair exhaust opening 41 formed in rear wall 39.

The iront face of rim 36 of drum spider 33 is recessed to receive atwo-part lint trap generally indicated'by the arrow 43 and comprising alint screen retainer member 44 and a lint screen 45. The lint screen 45contains a centrally located aperture which slides over hub 34 of drumspider 33 when parts 44 and 45 are assembled and inserted into therecessed rim 36. The lint screen retainer member 44 is provided with aplurality of air holes 47 as well as a pair of diametrically opposednger holes 48 to facilitate removal of the lint trap 43 from spidermember 33. When lint trap 43 has been assembled into the position shownin Figure 1, the periphery of the lint screen retainer member 44 forms alint-tight seal in the recessed portion of rim 36 while the lint screen44 maintains a linttight seal with hub 34 to etectively filter lint fromall air passing through drum spider member 33.

The rim 36 ofthe drum spider member 33 is rigidly bolted to the rearwall 39 of the drum 40 adjacent the pe riphery of the air exhaustopening 41. The rear drum wall 39 is fastened at its periphery to theimperforate cylindrical side wall 51 which carries the clothes elevatingvanes 52 to tumble fabrics retained within drum 40 during rotation ofthe latter member. Y

The cylindrical side wall 51 joins--the-imperforatefront Wall 54 whichis provided with a centrally located access opening 55 which is alignedwith the accessopening 57 formed in the front wall of cabinet 14. Aconventional door gasket 59carried in the access opening 57V and-protruding through drum access opening 55 seals these openings togetherduring rotation of drum 40. A door panel 58 hinged on cabinet 14 coversthese access openings 55 and 57 during theoperation of this clothesdrier.

In Figure l, it will be noted that the rear wall39 is providedwith-several rows of holes 61 positioned in a circular pattern intherear wall. Fastened to rear wall 39 nearits junction with thecylindrical side wall 51 is the shroud member 63 which is of generallycircular configuration-and which is provided with a blanked outcentrally located portion to provideA an -air access opening 64concentrically located with respect to the tubular portion 16 of blowerhousing 12.

Fastened tothe bracket 66 attached to the periphery of blower housing 12and positioned in the cavity between shroud 63and the rear drum 39 isthe electric open coil heating element 67 which serves to heat the airpassing through air access opening 64 prior to its entry into drum 4GYthrough the'foraminous area 61.

Air iiow intodrum 40 throughrholes 61 and into the blower housing'12 isproduced by means of the suction fan or impeller 71 which is revolublymounted upon a rear portion of the drum drive shaft 23 and housed withina scroll-shaped blower housing formed by the cooperation of blowerhousing 12 with the blower housing cover 73 connected to the rearportion of blower housing 12. The air exhaust elbow member 74- joins theconduit thus formed by the cooperation of members 12 and 73 to provide ameans of exhausting air discharged from the interior of drum 40 by therotation of the impeller member 71.

Impeller member 71 is integrally attached to the pulley membery 76 whichis directly driven by the front motor pulley 77 through belt 78. Thisdrive connection permits impeller 71 to be rotated at approximately 1700r.p.m. by motor 26-while that same motor rotates drum 40 at approXimat/ely 50 r.p.m.

Following its loading with damp fabrics to be dried, the clothes driershown in Figures 1 to 4 is energized by supplying power to motor 26 andheating element 67 through an external control circuit forming no partof this invention. The energization of the motor 26 causes clothestumblerl 40 to rotate the tumbler at tumbling speed while causing theimpeller member 71 to exhaust air from the blower housing 12 and airexhaust elbow 74.

This pumping of air through the exhaust elbow 74 creates a vacuum withindrum 4t)` with the result that air from the ambient atmospheresurrounding drum 40 enters the air access opening 64 and ows over theenergized heating element 67 prior to being drawn to the interiorof'drum 40 through the perforate area 61 in rear wall 39.

Because of the large inlet area provided by holes 61 and the large airhow produced by impeller 7 1, this construction produces a rather largeair flow through drum 40 at relatively low temperatures to therebyinsure a more safe and delicate drying operation on the fabrics withinthat drum.

The air leaving drum 40 passes through the lint screen retainer member44 and the lint screen 45 before being expelled from drum 40 through thecentrally located air exhaust opening 41 where it enters the blowerhousing 12 to be exhausted into the external ductwork connected toexhaust elbow 74.

A second embodiment of my invention is shown in Figure which differsprimarily from the embodiment shown in Figure 1 in the construction andpositioning of the shroud carried by the rear drum end Wall. Whereas thecooperation between shroud 63 and the rear wall 39 in Figure 1 forms anannular recess openly exposed toward its axis of rotation, the annularrecess formed by the rear wall 39a and the shroud 81 carried on thelatter rear wall shown in Figure 5 is openly exposed toward theperiphery of drum 40. The rows of holes 61a in rear wall 39a are locatednear the bottom of the circumferential recess formed by shroud 63 anddrum 40. Like the embodiment of Figure l, shroud 81 defines a cavityconliningthe heating unit 82 and accordingly also contines the air whichis preheated by heating unit 82 prior to its passage through theperforate area 61. This not only reduces wasteful radiant etects ofheater 82 within cabinet 14 but also aids in the conservation of heatenergy for drying purposes. The heating element `82. for preheating theair entering drum40 is carried on the insulated bracket 83 attached tovblower housing 12.

While the operation of the ysecondnembodiment is very similar to-that ofthe iirstembodiment, the greater area' available for the location of theheatingelement around the openly exposed annular recess -formed by therear wall 39a with shroud 81 permits the reduction of the concentrationof heat per unit area in that recess by the use of a longular circularheater coil for identical wattage.

Fragmentary views of a=third=embodiment of my invention are shown inFigures 6 and 7. In this embodiment, the rear drum wall (not shown) isirriperforate except for exhaust opening 41 whereas the front. wall 86carrying the shroud member87 is provided with circular rows of holes 88located concentrically to the access opening into drum 40. Shroud 87 istherefore similar in appearance and function to the shroud 81 as shownin Figure 5. The remaining parts of the drier are similar to those shownin Figures l to 5.

While heat for the drier modification shown in Figures 6 and 7 could besupplied by circular heating element such as that shown in Figure 15,the heating element 89 shown in Figures 6 and 7 is shown as an arcuateelement located beneath the access openings into the cabinet 14 and drum40 and anchored to the stationary framework of the cabinet 14 by elementbracket 98.

The location of shroud 87 at the front of drum 4t) provides a transverseyflow of air through the drum while the positioning of heating element89 at the lower portion of the drum concentrates the heat source nearthe lower region of the drum 40 in which the clothes are located. Otherthan these differences, the operation of the machine illustrated byFigures 6 and 7 is similar in form and operation to that shown in theprevious embodiments.

A fourth embodiment of my invention is shown in fragmentary Views ofFigures 8 and 9. This modification is very similar to that shown inFigures 6 and 7 in that the shroud member 91 is located on the front ofthe drum 4t) over holes 88 in the front drum wall 86 which supports andlcarries the rotatable shroud. member 91. Shroud 91 is provided with anedge 92 which `extends beyond the periphery of drum 40 to provide anextended recess aswell as an air shieldfor the gas burner 94 which byreason of its flame 95 cannot extend as far linto the cavity formed bywall 86 and shroud 91 as does the electric heating element shown inFigure 6, for example. The gas burner 94 is supported by burner bracket99 to the stationary framework of the cabinet'14.

Burner 94 is -arcuately formed into a. segment capable of supplying heatenergy to a fractional portion of the drum 4t) during its rotation inthe drying cycle. This modification functions similarly to that shown inFigures 6 and 7 but differs therefrom in that it relies upon` the draftcreated through drum 40 to draw the flame 95 toward` the holes 188. Thisfeature reduces the iire hazard in case burner 94 should continue tooperate when there is no air ow through drum 40.

A fth embodiment of my invention is shown in Figures 10 and 11. Thismodification is similar to the modification shown in Figures 8 and 9 inthat the heat source is supplied by an arcuately formed burner 96 havingsubstantially the same radius of curvature as the periphery of drum 40.The burner 96 is supported by burner bracket 99 to the stationaryframework of the cabinet 14. The shroud and drum wall formation of thisembodiment is similar to that of iFigure 8 but difers from that priorembodiment by the location of the heating element 96 relative to therecess formed by shroud member 91 and the drum front wall 86.

In the modification of Figure 10, the clothes drier coordinates thedirecting of the fiame 97 from burner 96 into this recess depending uponthe presence or absence of a draft through drum 40 to a greater degreethan that coordination which would be available for the machine shown inFigure 8. The burner is located in an upper quadrant, depending upon thedirection of drum rotation, so that a draft is necessary to draw the ame97 into the recess formed between shroud 91 and the front wall 86.Should the burner 96 continue to operate when the air fiow through drum40 ceases, the ame issuing from burner 96 will rise above burner 96 anddrum 40 with the result that heat will not be supplied to the interiorof drum 40 to ofverheat the fabrics carried within that tumbler. `Otherthan these differences, formation and operation of the drier shown inFigures 10 and l1 is substantially similar to that of Figures 8 and 9.

From this description and review of the accompanying drawings, it willbe seen that a prime object of my invention is to provide a rotatingdrum member with a perforate wall to which is attached a shroud memberwhich partially covers the perforate area of that wall so that thecavity thus formed by these members can be supplied with heat from astationary heat source to thereby heat the interior of the drum withoutnecessitating the use of an imperforate casing encompassing the tumbleror any duct-work connected to such a casing.

It will therefore be appreciated that while several embodiments of myinvention are disclosed herein, other modifications may also be madewhich come within the spirit of my invention as defined by the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. In a clothes drier, a revoluble drum including a rear wall, meansdefining a centrally located air exhaust opening in said rear wall, saidrear wall further including a perforate portion spaced outwardly fromsaid air exhaust opening and defining an air intake into said drum,means for moving ambient air surrounding said drum into said drumthrough said perforate portion and out of said drum through said airexhaust opening, exhaust conduit means communicating between saidexhaust Opening `and atmosphere, a shroud member fastened to said rearwall and extending over said perforate portion, and a stationary heatingunit positioned between said drum and said shroud member for heating airentering said drum through said perforate portion in said rear Wall.

2. In a clothes drier, a revoluble drum including a rear wall, meansdefining a centrally located air exhaust opening in said rear wall, saidrear wall further including a perforate portion spaced outwardly fromsaid air exhaust opening, means for moving ambient air surrounding saiddrum -air into said drum through said perforate portion and out of saiddrum through said air exhaust opening, exhaust conduit meanscommunicating between said air exhaust opening and atmosphere, Ia shroudmember fastened to said rear wall and extending inwardly toward the axisof rotation of said drum to cover said perforate portion and define anair intake opening aligned with said air exhaust opening, and astationary heating unit positioned between said shroud member and saiddrum for heating air passing through said air intake opening andentering said perforate portion in said rear wall.

3. IIn a clothes drier, a revoluble drum including a rear wall, meansdefining a centrally located air exhaust opening in said rear wall, saidrear wall further including a perforate portion encircling said airexhaust opening, means for moving ambient air surrounding said drum intosaid drum through said perforate portion vand out of said drum throughsaid air exhaust opening, exhaust conduit means communicating betweensaid exhaust opening and atmosphere, a shroud member fastened to saidrear wall and projecting toward the periphery of said drum in spacedrelationship to said perforate portion to define with said drum acircumferential cavity communicating with said perforate portion, and astationary heating unit of circular configuration positioned within saidcavity for heating air entering said drum through said perforateportion.

4. In a clothes drier, a revoluble drum including front and rear walls,means defining a central access opening in said front wall, meansdefining a centrally located air exhaust opening in said rear wall, saidfront wall including a foraminous portion of generally circularconfiguration adjacent the periphery of said drum to define an airintake into said drum, means for moving ambient air surrounding saiddrum into said drum through said foraminous portion and out of said drumthrough said ait` exhaust ope-ning, exhaust conduit means communicatingbetween said exhaust opening and atmosphere, a shroud member injuxtaposition to said front wall and extending toward the periphery ofsaid drum in spaced relationship to said foraminous portion to definewith said drum an annular cavity adjacent to and communicating with saidforaminous portion, and a heating unit positioned between said drum andsaid shroud member in said cavity for heating air entering said drumthrough said foraminous portion.

5. In a clothes drier, a revoluble drum including front and rear Walls,means defining an access opening in said front wall, means defining anair exhaust opening in said rear wall, one of said walls including aforaminous portion defining an air intake into said drum, airtranslating means for moving ambient air surrounding said drum into saiddrum through said foraminous portion and out of said drum through saidair exhaust opening, exhaust conduit means communicating between saidair exhaust opening and atmosphere, a shroud member fastened injuxtaposition to said one wall and extending toward the periphery ofsaid drum in spaced relationship to said foraminous portion to definewith the cooperation of said drum an annular recess adjacent to andcommunicating with said foraminous portion, and a gas burner positionedadjacent said shroud member and in the draft created through said drumby said air translating means for heating air entering said drum throughsaid foraminous portion, said burner being spaced from said foraminousportion and emitting a fiame entering said recess upon the creation ofsaid draft.

6. In a clothes drier, a revoluble drum including front and rear walls,means defining a centrally located access opening in said front wall,means defining a centrally located air exhaust opening in said rearwall, one of said walls defining an annular perforate portion positionedcoaxially to said centrally located air exhaust opening and defining anair intake into said drum, impeller means outside of said drum formoving ambient air surrounding said drum into said drum through saidperforate portion and out of said drum through said air exhaust openingto the atmosphere, exhaust conduit means communicating between said airexhaust opening and atmosphere, and forming a housing for said impellermeans, a shroud member extending over said perforate portion, and aheating unit positioned adjacent said drum for heating air entering saiddrum between said drum and shroud member.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

